For so many years, I felt like I was working harder than my students! I knocked myself out trying to plan engaging lessons, provide meaningful feedback, develop labs and activities to deepen student understanding and build relevance into my classroom, and get every assignment, test, and lab report graded and returned within 48 hours (a lofty goal)! It's exhausting to do all of these things and the level of appreciation I got from students and parents did not seem proportional to the amount of time and energy I was putting in. I would return student lab reports with written feedback and they would just flip to the last page, see that they got a D-, celebrate that they "passed," and never even read my comments about their writing so that on the next lab report, they made the same mistakes again.I still put in a lot of time and energy into my teaching, but because I have changed the way I ask students to reflect on their own learning, it doesn't drain the life out of me anymore. In fact, meeting the 48 hour turnaround time is easier now than it ever was. Here are some specific changes I have made to get students be more independent as they reflect on their learning.

1. I started with a student evaluation form attached to every test. Now when I hand back a graded test, we have more to talk about than the score at the top. I recorded a podcast about how I create the form and use it in class here http://missgrayscience.weebly.com/flipped-classroom.html. I have made some changes since then that I think make the form a little easier for students to decipher - mainly reorganizing it by learning objective so students can more easily which topics they have mastered and which topics they still need to work on. Here is an example from my chemistry class.

2. I flipped my class. Because I don't spend most of my time at the front of the class going over lecture notes, I have time to give more frequent corrective feedback to individual students or small groups as they are working through the content. I also keep answer keys available so students can try a few problems, check that they are on the right track and make adjustments if needed. Some kids cheat and just copy what's on the answer key onto their page. I usually just have a conversation with them about whether or not it helps them to learn when they do that - and then pull the rug out on the quiz or test when they find out that copying isn't learning. If I had assigned the work as homework, there would be cheating andy copying too. But I don't give grades on individual assignments anymore, so copying doesn't change their grade, it just means that it will take more time to learn the content. I even flipped my feedback on the lab reports, thanks to tips from April Gudenrath @agudteach, so that students don't flip to the back to see their score. Now they have to make corrections after watching my feedback video just to get a score on their lab - until they do, it just shows as "missing." Their writing has improved and their grades are better.

3. I changed from traditional grades to criterion-referenced grades. Students no longer receive "points" for compliance or assignment completion. They get the feedback they need as they make progress towards mastery. Their scores on frequent quizzes and longer tests provides evidence of learning. Students get a scale at the beginning of each unit so they know what mastery looks like and we can set goals together.

When they view their grades online, they will see where they currently are on the scale for each objective and can make a plan of what to do next. After I recorded the podcast here http://missgrayscience.weebly.com/flipped-classroom.html, I have made some adjustments to my grading. The main difference is that I don't have grades that are scored out of 100% included in the average - everything is based on the 4 point scale. I either use a scaffolded quiz, with the 3 and 4 level questions set apart from level 1 and 2, or I use the self evaluation forms from the test to determine the students level of mastery on the scale. If the assignments are graded using a percent, I can convert it to a scale. Getting 3s and 4s takes work and it's a high standard. Making a 2, which would be interpreted as 50%, is C level work (kind of like a GPA scale). So when parents look at the grade, their kid's letter grade does not seem to match the percent. It does NOT mean that kids can get a 50% on the test and be rewarded with a C! They must get at least a 70% on the test in order to earn a 2 (C). Here is the translation from scale scores to percents.

The most important result of changing my grading is that students have become more focused on learning, rather than on earning points. They know what they need to do to get where they need to be and I am there to provide feedback, coaching, and support along the way.

These three changes have made the most impact on the way I use my time both inside and outside of class. It has provided me with the freedom to develop more meaningful and engaging face-to-face encounters with my students because I don't spend my evenings grading every assignment they do. My time and energy can be devoted to the most important things and I don't resent the lack of appreciation or the apathy from my students like I did before. Since I have more time to develop positive relationships, I have more students who are willing to do the work I am asking them to do because they know I care deeply about them and their success. My students are more reflective learners, which makes them better at learning in every academic area.